Tenebrae's faultless control and balance bring the sacred texts to life, including some wild modulations and sudden side-slips. They're followed by Victoria's own settings for the day before Easter, which in their powerful serenity and depth I find rather more compelling. The 16 singers of Tenebrae under Nigel Short's direction shine in the darkness.

Here Tenebrae (the choir) sings Tenebrae (the pre-Easter office) with a thorough understanding of this music's expressive potential, subtly inflected with its touches of drama. The performance is of a rapt concentration and intensity that underline the music's contemplative emotional power.

There have been several fine recordings of these items . . . but this one excels, partly because it gets exactly right the balance between the mannered, madrigalesque features of the music and the eerie drama and morbidity of the religious story . . . Nigel Short's superb musical sensitivity to phrasing and texture illuminates everything . . . the endless dovetailing of the musical lines, all within an overall architectural vision, is exquisitely sustained . . . all in reverberant yet clear acoustics.